Giant Charge Reversal Observed For the First Time
Wednesday, July 12, 2017 - 14:22
in Physics & Chemistry
Charged surfaces submerged in an electrolyte solution can sometimes become oppositely charged. This nonintuitive phenomenon happens when excess counter ions adsorb to the surface. In certain situations, theory predicts that a highly charged surface not only changes sign, but can become more highly charged than the original surface. This is known as giant charge reversal, but remains controversial and has never been observed experimentally -- until now. Results reported this week in The Journal of Chemical Physics confirm giant charge reversal for a surface in contact with a trivalent electrolyte solution.